Is the Bay Area really dealing with ticket machines? The global capital of technology? Just bill by plate or something.

epistasis 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

The global capital of technology has absolute horrid infrastructure and is not on the forefront of any municipal technologies.

There's a big disconnect from people building new projects and local governance, and it's growing. When tech companies started even providing buses for their employees, because local government is too fractured and incapable of running needed bus routes, and can not coordinate across county and city borders, local activists were extremely upset that tech workers were not driving their personal cars and instead using environments-saving and traffic-reducing transit.

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mh2266 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I got billed by plate at gravel parking lots in places in Iceland where there were probably more sheep nearby than human residents. Embarrassing.

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lotsoweiners 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I would bill by ticket machine too if it was my job to collect money on the parking. I’m guessing that the amount of people who never pay is much higher than zero so it really only makes sense when you have such high throughput that the slowdown is detrimental (such as the Bay bridge).

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idontwantthis 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Or develop 12 competing apps that each only work in different lots.

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amarant 5 hours ago | parent [-]

A fellow Swede I presume?

It's extra silly cause I once parked in central Oslo and got the ticket mailed to my sthlm address. No fuss, no problem, super easy!

We got a lot to learn from our neighbours....

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terminalshort 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Super easy unless you have moved recently, then you don't get the bill and end up years later in collections for the original amount plus a million late fees added on.

	▲	amarant 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Nah it arrives electronically to kivra, which is like email except you log in with your social security number and it's only for "official business" like invoices and whatnot.

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idontwantthis an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

No not a Swede at all this is funny! That was my experience parking in the Washington, DC area last year.

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umanwizard 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

The reasons why the Bay Area is the global capital of technology are absolutely totally unrelated to the quality of infrastructure or the policies of local government there.

It’s mainly due to the state of US technological advancement decades ago when the whole thing got started, the general US-level business-friendly environment, and the presence of an extremely prestigious (especially in science and tech fields) university nearby.

	▲	terminalshort 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		The specific reason is that William Shockley's mother lived in Palo Alto. Stanford gets the credit but in reality it had nothing to do with the decision.